Pegasus Barge to begin renovations for SLS core shipping

NASA’s famous Pegasus Barge – best known for transporting External Tanks from the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) – is about to be handed over to a contractor for the modifications that will allow it to transport Space Launch System (SLS) Cores to Florida. The modifications will include the barge being “stretched” to cater for the large HLV cores.Pegasus Barge:

Barges have played a major role throughout the history of the American space program, transporting major pieces of hardware from NASA centers to their eventual launch site destination in Florida.

At one point NASA had a fleet of barges, such as the Orion, Poseidon, Pearl River and Palaemon – as seen in this photo (left) with various tugs used to guide the barges, and another unidentified open-deck barge in the background.

Built to replace NASA’s aging Poseidon and Orion barges – both built in the 1940s to serve in World War II and converted in the 1960s for NASA’s Apollo program – Pegasus became the sole means of transport for the shuttle external tanks in 2002.

The 260 feet long, 50 foot wide and 15 feet high Pegasus has been docked at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, since 2011.

This is because her final Shuttle-era role wasn’t her final Shuttle-related journey. Instead she was tasked with delivering the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) ground support equipment to Stennis from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, before being mothballed.

This month will see her depart the famous rocket engine test facility, ahead of a short trip to Amelia, Louisiana – where contractor Conrad Shipyard LLC will conduct modifications on the barge, per their $8.5m contract with NASA.

The main modification requirements are based around stretching the barge to be able to carry the long core stages of the Space Launch System (SLS), along with life extensions that will ensure she has a role in NASA’s return to exploration.

“Pegasus made it possible for NASA to deliver numerous ground-breaking science missions to orbit and complete construction of the International Space Station,” said Robert Rutherford, group lead for the Transportation and Logistics Engineering Office at Marshall.

According to L2 information, Test stand A-1 modifications were completed June 30, with engine E0525 mounted on the stand July 1. Eo525 testing is still scheduled to start NET (No Earlier Than) August 20.

(Images: Via NASA and L2 content from L2′s ET and SLS specific L2 sections, which includes, presentations, videos, graphics and internal – interactive with actual SLS engineers – updates on the SLS and HLV, available on no other site.)

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